The UK Independence Party has overtaken the Liberal Democrats as the third party of British politics, Nigel Farage declared today as he made major gains in local elections.UKIP is on course to win more than 100 council seats, denying the Tories of control in some areas and taking votes from all the main parties.As senior Conservatives scrambled to justify haemorrhaging support to the anti-EU party, Mr Farage said he was at the head of a ‘wave of protest’ which would permanently change the political landscape.

With six council election results declared so far, UKIP has gained 42 county council seats in England.The Tories are down 74 seats to 201, Labour up 26 to 42 and Lib Dems down 16 to 73.UKIP won no seats when the same councils were fought in 2009

The Tories tried to put a brave face on the early results, knowing there is worse yet to come.Conservative chairman Grant Shapps said: ‘People have sent a message, we get it, we hear what people are saying, people are concerned that we get on with the big issues facing hard-working people in this country, like fixing the economy, sorting out the welfare system, helping hard-working people to get on.‘There is a lot more to do, there's two years to go until the next election and in the end it will be a choice between whether you want Ed Balls and Ed Miliband, for Labour, in Downing Street or David Cameron trying to make sure that this country is always a place where hard-working people can get on.’But Mr Shapps is under pressure from Tory MPs who fear for their own seats if the party cannot see off the threat from UKIP

After the six overnight counts, the Tories had lost 74 seats and the Lib Dems were down 16. Ukip were the big winners with 42 gains, and Labour were up 26.

[SIZE=3]The UK Independence Party has overtaken the Liberal Democrats as the third party of British politics,

This is likely, but I think it's too early to tell for sure.

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Originally Posted by W0

Nigel Farage declared today as he made major gains in local elections.UKIP is on course to win more than 100 council seats, denying the Tories of control in some areas and taking votes from all the main parties.

There is no denying the UKIP gains have significance in that they have achieved this more or less from a standing start, which suggests they have potential, but in the scheme of things UKIP are still relatively insignificant in local government. Also, these were county council elections, covering mainly rural areas and market towns where a party like UKIP - essentially a confused amalgam of Eurosceptic, libertarians & right-wing populists - is bound to be received well. Bear in mind also that rural Tories tend to be more independent-minded and taciturn by nature, and would turn to UKIP if they dislike the national leader. Labour and Lib Dem voters tend to be more tribal and loyal to their respective party leaders. It's no surprise that UKIP have done very well in Lincolnshire, for instance, but how well will they perform in the more substantial local borough and district elections - places like Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester - where the main parties have a firmer foothold? I suspect not well.

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Originally Posted by W0

[SIZE=3]As senior Conservatives scrambled to justify haemorrhaging support to the anti-EU party, Mr Farage said he was at the head of a ‘wave of protest’ which would permanently change the political landscape.

I think this is hubris on Farage's part. I doubt they will change the political landscape for the very simple and obvious reason that they are already part of the old landscape. If they gain seats at Westminster, then so what? They are just the Conservative Party in different clothes, and in my view a dangerous distraction in that they are encouraging the delusion that if only people would pin a different coloured rosette on the same donkey, then everything will be fine, when it won't. What is needed is a change in consciousness. In my opinion, that can only happen through popular Nationalism. But that's just my opinion.

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Originally Posted by W0

With six council election results declared so far, UKIP has gained 42 county council seats in England.The Tories are down 74 seats to 201, Labour up 26 to 42 and Lib Dems down 16 to 73.UKIP won no seats when the same councils were fought in 2009

Yawn...So what? We all know that seats change hands radically and drastically in local government from year-to-year, and it goes through cycles under the heavy influence of national politics. Whenever the Tories are in power, they lose all their seats. Even the red-faced colonels stop voting for them. It's practically an English tradition. So the Tories are now down to 201 county council seats. OK, so what? I agree there is some significance in the fact UKIP have gone from exactly zero county council seats to [at the present count] 42, but then again, the significance of this is only for UKIP. It just means they have been successful in attaining seats where they should be successful anyway. It doesn't mean that anyone has changed their mind about anything important. As I state above, these are in areas where you'd expect a bunch of ultra-Tories to do well anyway. In fact, it would be more of a surprise if UKIP failed to gain these seats. Traditionally, the Tories in Lincolnshire wore red rosettes. Now they wear purple rosettes. My question: So what?

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Originally Posted by W0

The Tories tried to put a brave face on the early results, knowing there is worse yet to come.Conservative chairman Grant Shapps said: ‘People have sent a message, we get it, we hear what people are saying, people are concerned that we get on with the big issues facing hard-working people in this country, like fixing the economy, sorting out the welfare system, helping hard-working people to get on.

The Jew Grant Shapps doesn't 'get' it at all, that's part of the problem.

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Originally Posted by W0

[SIZE=3]‘There is a lot more to do, there's two years to go until the next election and in the end it will be a choice between whether you want Ed Balls and Ed Miliband, for Labour, in Downing Street or David Cameron trying to make sure that this country is always a place where hard-working people can get on.’But Mr Shapps is under pressure from Tory MPs who fear for their own seats if the party cannot see off the threat from UKIP

I suspect the Tories will now begin distancing themselves from the Lib Dems, possibly engineering a break-up of the Coalition, so that they can present themselves as more to the right politically and try and placate these pressures.

We often see these protest vote swings at local election times.
Unfortunately, at General Elections the punter stands there with that pencil in his hand, looks dumbly at the ballot form, and his primitive reptile brain whispers "They were good enough for your grand dad..."

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Hey, this is Europe. We took it from nobody; we won it from the bare soil that the ice left.
The bones of our ancestors and the stones of their works are everywhere.

Fancy the BNP getting double the number of votes over the LibDems in South Shields! Maybe the prospect of LibDems losing further deposits in the next General Election, they'll not bother to field any candidates. I would think that Farage's General Election campaign is well under way, especially for the Rushcliffe constituency.

UKIP have made gains because the English are sick of seeing their country, identity and culture being swamped and changed by foreigners.

We are living in a country that no longer feels English and as the economy declines thanks to the Conservative and Labour parties incompetence so the English will look more and more for the cause of that economic decline.

How many times have we read newspaper articles stating the CHANGING face of Briton or similer.

As UKIP continue to defeat the LibDems they will become the third party of British politics. As already stated above, when the Romanians and Bulgarians flood our schools and benefit offices next year UKIP will gain even more support.

Fancy the BNP getting double the number of votes over the LibDems in South Shields! Maybe the prospect of LibDems losing further deposits in the next General Election, they'll not bother to field any candidates. I would think that Farage's General Election campaign is well under way, especially for the Rushcliffe constituency.

UKIP won't win Rushcliffe. Ken Clarke holds a safe Tory seat which didn't even go down in the Labour landslide of 1997. His majority is nearly 30% over his nearest opponent (then a Lib Dem) so he would have to have a 'swing' (half the percentage majority) of 15% against him to lose. UKIP would need an absolutely MASSIVE swing of OVER 20% to gain that seat.